"I'd always thought food was pretty straightforward: you're hungry, you eat; you're not, you don't. Then I became a mother." So begins Betsy Block's humorous, life-changing book on the ultimate of all makeovers: improving the family meal. But how is her plan even possible when eleven-year old Zack's favorite food is Halloween candy; little Maya is so picky that she'll only eat cut squares of white bread; and her husband's idea of a gift is an electric fryer? Determined not to give up the good-food fight, Betsy comes up with a creative ten-step makeover plan. She consults experts, visits farms, and shows how she and her family manage the pitfalls, struggles, and triumphs of eating well when busy schedules, surreptitious lunch trades, snack machines, permissive grandparents, and willful temptations intervene. With helpful charts, food lists, recipes, tips, and suggested culinary and farm programs for kids, The Dinner Diaries chronicles one family's intrepid ten-month challenge to change the way they eat-one forkful at a time. Betsy Block has written food features and restaurant reviews for the Boston Globe and Wondertime Magazine, and online for Epicurious.com. A regular contributor to NPR's Kitchen Window, she lives in Boston with her husband, two children, and fourteen-year-old mutt. A harried mother of two, Betsy Block is in pursuit of the perfect family meal: local, toxin-free, humane, and healthful. But soon she finds herself in a mealtime maze beset by conflicting, often unrealistic advice, and further complicated by two picky kids and a finicky husband. Determined not to give up the good-food fight, she comes up with a creative ten-step makeover plan. She consults experts, visits farms, and overcomes the pitfalls, struggles, and triumphs of eating well when busy schedules, surreptitious lunch trades, snack machines, permissive grandparents, and willful temptations intervene. As entertaining as it is informative, The Dinner Diaries is for any family who wants to change the way they ear-one forkful at a time. Includes charts, food lists, recipes, tips, and suggested culinary and farm programs for kids. Contents Introduction Food Fight Chapter 1 Expert Advice Chapter 1 1/2 At the Table: Take 1 Chapter 2 Holiday Hurdle Chapter 3 Some Animals Are More Equal Chapter 3 1/2 At the Table: Take 2 Chapter 4 Easier Said Than Done Chapter 4 1/2 At the Table: Take 3 Chapter 5 Fishy Chapter 5 1/2 At the Table: Take 4 Chapter 6 The Vexing People Problem Chapter 7 The Aisle Not Taken Chapter 8 Do It Yourself (or Not) Chapter 9 If Mama Ain't Happy (Ain't Nobody Happy) Chapter 9 1/2 At the Table: Take 5 Chapter 10 Where the Ideal Meets the Real Appendix Tips, Charts, Recipes, and Places to Go "If you are one of the many who have experienced the difficulties of getting your family to eat something that isn't processed, that isn't loaded with chemicals, or that you can't pronounce then you are going to love Dinner Diaries. . . . The best thing about this book is that not only is it informative . . . but it's also laugh out loud funny."--Project Foodie "Dinner Diaries" documents Block's efforts to make family eating fun, appetizing and as healthy as possible in a Pop-Tart nation. Never underestimating her opponent --the great pillars of sugar, salt and fat supporting American food culture-- Block writes with knowledge, wit and humor in her quest for "an all-family meal makeover.""-Baltimore Examiner

Mode of access: World Wide Web